


just breathe.

by curiositykilled



Series: Uliro Angst Prompts [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-30 01:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12643449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiositykilled/pseuds/curiositykilled
Summary: He had already died once for Shiro, after all. It could only be easier the second time.





	just breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> Previously posted on [my tumblr](http://curiosity-killed.tumblr.com/post/164200176770/just-breathe)

The ringing was all he could hear at first. His ears felt as if they were stuffed with down, all noises muffled and fuzzy. The ringing alone, high-pitched and shrill, cut through the fog.

Slowly, agonizingly, other sensations came through: liquid running warm down his cheek, fingers pressing gentle on the other, numbness radiating through his entire left side. This, more than anything else, brought Ulaz back to himself. The last thing he remembered was fighting back to back with Shiro as the Galra advanced. There had been a grenade and then -

 _Oh. Oh, right. Of course._ He’d thrown himself in front of Shiro. That explained…well, everything.

A keening panic started, but he quelled it ruthlessly. He diverted that energy to lifting his hand, the one he could still move. It took extraordinary effort.

“No,” Shiro said. “Ulaz, please. Just lie still. Please.  _God_ , Ulaz.”

His hand met the hard ridge of Shiro’s cheekbone, and he flattened his palm to cup the side of Shiro’s face.

“Please,” Shiro said. “Save your energy.”

“They’re gone?” Ulaz asked.

His voice came out hoarse, rasping over his vocal folds. _Smoke inhalation,_ some part of his mind supplied. He hoped Shiro hadn’t suffered the same.

“The - yeah,” Shiro said. He sniffed. “They’re gone. We’re safe now.”

Ulaz hummed a little, pleased. It was worth it, then. A good death. Shiro would survive. That was what really mattered, in the end. He had already died once for Shiro, after all. It could only be easier the second time.

He breathed out and ignored the way the air didn’t seem to reach his lungs. It was likely enough they weren’t within his ribcage anymore, and if that was the case, there really wasn’t anything for it.

His only regret was leaving Shiro alone. They’d been so close to reaching the others; Shiro had even begun speaking of it with ‘whens’ instead of 'ifs.’ To abandon him now was surely one of the cruelest things he’d ever done, well-intentioned or not.

“Shiro,” he said, thick-tongued. “’m so sorry, Shiro.”

Shiro gave a little hiccuping sound, and then a hand covered Ulaz’s, cool through his glove. His Galra arm, then. The one Ulaz had given him. Forced on him. Necessity had prompted it, but oh, how he hated himself for it. The pain it caused Shiro echoed in his chest like a second heartbeat.

“Shh, Ulaz, please,” Shiro said, “please, it’s okay. Just focus on breathing, alright? Just breathe. Come on.”

Ulaz didn’t have the heart to tell him that that wasn’t much of an option at this point. It would be an unnecessary cruelty. Instead, he forced open his eyes. It took too much effort, and his vision was bleary when he’d opened them. The sky was a broad smudge of grey, Shiro’s face a smaller dab of tan. He wondered if this was what the art Shiro had spoken of was like - the paintings with their oil and gloss. He’d wanted to see them, someday, if they had the chance. Maybe Shiro would go instead, now, perhaps with Keith or Allura or one of the other paladins. The thought was a pleasant one that soothed, just slightly, the prickling numbness through his chest and spine. Shiro would live. It was enough.

“Shiro,” he said, a little fainter. He could feel Shiro shift, lean closer. “Live, please. Find them – and live.”

The words took more air than he had left; the last of them came out in a wheeze. Shiro made a keening sound, an eerie, animalistic noise that spoke only of grief, as he curled more tightly over Ulaz. Ulaz’s hand started to slip, but Shiro’s tightened, halting it.

A drop of water burst against Ulaz’s forehead, and he frowned until the smell of salt reach him and another drop fell.  _Oh. Tears._  Such a strange, human reaction. For a body to make itself more vulnerable at its most vulnerable made no sense at all, and yet, they continued to fall, drop by drop, like rain on his upturned face.

 _‘I love you,’_  he wanted to say. Another bit of humanity, the phrase had no true equivalent in Galran. When Ulaz had uttered it before, it was always in the Terran tongue.

Now, he could only hope Shiro heard it in the unsteady rhythm of his heart, the gentle press of his hand on Shiro’s cheek. He wished he’d said it one more time, before he never got to say it again.

His vision was growing murkier, the effort to keep his eyes open insurmountable.

“Please, Ulaz,” Shiro whispered. “Please.”

The last of his breath slipped from Ulaz’s mouth, and he slumped a little into Shiro. The gentle rain continued to fall drip by drip, and the last thing he saw before his eyes closed was blue light, cyan like the fire of the castle’s jets. 


End file.
